Here are the best apps for women, assembled so women with a busy lifestyle can download the latest and greatest apps without spending hours on research.

Multi-tasking is part of a woman’s life whether she is a student, a mother, or a business executive. With the help of modern electronic devices, women can easily keep up with their busy routine. Here are some of the best apps for women that can help increase efficiency and keep you up-to-date.

The Best Apps for Women: iPhone

iPhone is king of modern devices. With thousands of apps in the iTunes store, it’s hard to discern which are the best apps for women (like iPeriod, an app you won’t find written about on Engadget, Gizmodo, or Tech Crunch). Here are our picks to make app choosing for women a little easier:

Awesome Note: Awesome Note costs $3.99 but provides all the features you want but can’t find in free note taking apps. You can set alarms in advance and create sub-lists. The app has a clean interface and even lets you sync with Google.

ClockIn: This free app is perfect for women working from home. It records time and allows you to send timesheet to your clients. You can also download timesheet for your personal record.

Dinner Spinner: Great for coming up with cooking ideas! There is a free version available but if you want full functionality, you’ll have to buy the Pro version (priced at $2.99). The pro version features advance search options so that you can search for recipes based on ingredients. You can also share and save recipes using a phone-friendly app interface.

iBody: The app costs $9.99 but provides excellent value for the money through its long list of features. You can get the perfect body shape by tracking your weight loss campaign through this intuitive app. The app keeps track of weight, fitness and blood values and serves as a fitness journal for your daily workout.

Instagram: This free app is for everyone with an iPhone. It turns your regular iPhone camera into an ‘awesome’ camera. Read more about Instagram 3.0.

The Best Apps for Women: Android

Android devices are becoming increasingly popular, and many women are now switching to Android phones due to their exceptional capabilities and rich app store. If you are looking for apps specifically designed for women, you may be a little lost among hundreds of apps coming from developers of all kinds. Here is a list of the best apps for women from the Android Market:

OurGroceries: It’s a grocery list with every feature you can ask for. OurGroceries is definitely the first app women should install on their new Android device.

Shopsavvy Barcode Scanner: This barcode scanner app lets you handle money judiciously. When you have the app installed in your Android device, you will be able to comparison check prices as you shop. The app is perfect for staying economically efficient.

Forbes has published its list of 100 Most Powerful Women for 2012, with Angela Merkel on top, recognizing the achievements and contributions of women from all around the world. The list, edited by editor Mary Ellen Egan, is based on economic impact and visibility of leading women around the globe and all walks of life.

Over the past decade, women have achieved everything from hottest celebrity in the fashion world to head of state. To tribute female contribution, let’s have a look at some of the most influential women from Forbes’ list of 100 Most Powerful Women.

Angela Merkel: Angela Merkel is at top of the list for second consecutive year. She was also in the top spot from 2007 to 2009. She lost rank in 2010, a hot year for Michelle Obama, who topped the list, replacing the German power-woman.

Angela Merkel is the first female chancellor of Germany, an honor that speaks for itself. She is only the second woman to chair the G8. She has been president of the European Council and came in at number 4 on Forbes’ list of Most Powerful People in the World.

Angela Merkel is one of the most influential women to ever live. She’s seen as playing a crucial role in managing the financial crisis at the European and international level, and has been referred to a “the de facto leader of the European Union”. She has received various awards and prizes including the Vision for Europe Award, the Charlemagne Prize, the Leo Baeck Medal, and the B’nail B’rith Europe Award of Merit.

Hillary Clinton: Hillary Clinton is comes in at the number two spot on Forbes list of 100 Most Powerful Women. She is among the most influential women of the last decade, inspiring hundreds of women around the world.

Hillary Clinton went to Yale Law School where she remained on the Board of Editors of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action. It was Yale where she met future president Bill Clinton and started dating him.

Not only did Hillary Clinton play a significant role as first-lady in the mid-90’s, in the last decade she’s made influential decisions as Senator and later Secretary of State, a position she currently holds.

Dilma Rouseff: Dilam Rousseff is Brazilian president and the first woman to hold this position in the country. She is a powerful president, bringing many corrupt government officials to justice. Today, many people believe that Brazil is on its way to becoming a leading world economy – most credit to Dilma Rouseff for embarking the country along the correct path. She has made decisions that powerful men in the country were afraid to make.

Early on in her life, Dilma was involved in an armed struggle supporting Marxism, however, she later changed her views, stopping support of Marxism and all military regimes.

Other powerhouses on the list include tech mavens Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and Marissa Mayer of Yahoo. One the list are also Sonia Gandhi from India, Melinda Gates, Michelle Obama, Janet Napolitano, Oprah Winfrey, and Lady Gaga. These women have proved over the years that we don’t live in a mans world. Women with gusto, the right attitude and a passion for achievements can easily lead the way.

The eBook erotica craze didn’t begin with the bestselling book Fifty Shades of Grey. With respect to eBook erotica, there were writers, mostly women, writing erotic stories to be later sold on the internet, way before Fifty Shades of Grey came anywhere near the mainstream. In fact, women writing erotica began way before the Internet. Just google Anais Nin.

The present trend is all thanks to the amazing Amazon Kindle, which allows indie writers anywhere in the world to self-publish and sell their eBooks online. Without technology, there would be no medium for these women to do so. Today, writing an eBook to be sold via Amazon Kindle seems to have turned into a livelihood for many (some earn thousands a month or more!).

Amazon began by targeting writers who lacked the clout to earn a publisher’s precious time. But it’s not just indie writers who benefited from the ante; erotica writers jumped on the bandwagon — and they too sold! Alright, they didn’t sell exactly like a regular thriller would, but they sold from $2-4 dollars which isn’t bad considering the low costs to entry.

So who’s reading eBook erotica? Is it people bored by their jobs or marriages, and in search of some “quickie excitement” via smut books? If so, can we blame them? If reading a short erotic story spares them hundreds in therapy, then why not? Or has reading sex become the panacea for being short of money or being in debt? After all, erotica eBooks are better than popping Valium –what’s more, they give livelihood to erotic writers (most erotica writers earn an average of $1,700-2,000 a month!)

Does writing smut taint a professional writer’s repute or does it enhance it? If writers choose to make a living writing erotica, I feel it’s their right to do so just as much as it’s the reader’s right to acquire them. Besdies, if it helps women make a living during a recession, why not? Or perhaps the recession has nothing to do with it –considering how many millions Fifty Shades of Grey has earned.

Confirmed: Universal Pictures and Focus Features just purchased the film rights to the novel for $5 million.

Technology can not only make you a living; it can make you a millionaire. Pure luck or enterprise?

Spirituality for Kids is a novel site that was designed for parents and kids to have FUN, solve problems together and develop spiritual values.

Technology can make or break a life –it’s a fact. This is especially so for kids. Children growing up, left alone to play violent video games, may have the tendency, later on, to view life as nothing but a series of battles to be fought. Today, even child psychiatrist will advise parents to train children from early on to instinctively distinguish virtual life from real life.

We hear of kids playing online games and video games for hours, thumbs in perpetual motion as if their lives depended on winning a game. In most countries, gaming seems to be what a child interprets as ‘playing.’ But this ‘playing’ usually means figuring out how to kill some evil wizard or control the world. While there are some ‘good’ games, like Family Vacation, Nintendo Wii and Dora the Explorer (most Disney games aren’t too bad either), they are the minority not the majority. Other games teach kids how to solve puzzles, figure out things for themselves and comprehend fun situations, but is that all there is to life?

Without squeezing all the fun out of a kids existence, we must admit that there is something more to real life than ‘fun and games.’ What about spirituality? Unless our kids are clones of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, we cannot expect them to acquire values like selflessness, compassion, kindness, and love from a video game. Moral values are developed as a child begins to grow up and parents are expected to teach children these values. Decades ago, teaching a child values was easier; dad took Tommy out to fly a kite while relegating of his own life experiences. There was also mom who played board games with her child while telling stories. Bonding was easier then and parents and children were less distant from each other because they related better, had more time together and had to play games that made it necessary for them to TALK to each other. Conditions aren’t the same today.

This is why I got so excited when I heard about a new online site that’s changing ‘gaming’ for kids! SpiritualityForKids.com is a new playground where kids and parents can relate closer than if they were simply sharing a joystick or playing with a computer.

What’s the difference, one may ask – “a game is a game is a game”? Not really. Spirituality for Kids is a novel site that was designed for parents and kids to have FUN, solve problems together and develop spiritual values. It offers a platform where both the parent (or teacher) can learn from the child as well. What is at stake here is how both interact and are taught “The Game of Life”. Yes, literal life. Like, how to properly react to “given situations in the game”. Parents also learn how best to communicate and teach the child by finding out if the kid reacts more to sound, visuals, or tactile (hands on) methods. Parents learn by listening and observing their children, and no one wins or loses in this “game” – in fact, it is entirely non-judgmental. There are no wars to be fought here, only choices to make that help the child realize that he/she is part of humankind and that light and compassion are really the only keys to winning the “Game of Life”.

Why is the game fun? Precisely because it does not preach anything. Yes, there are villains such as “junk food,” “the temptation to cheat/lie”, and anything else that is not “good” for a child, but even the terms “good/bad” is open for inquiry and the players are allowed free choice without judgement. This makes both the parent and child “keyplayers”. The game emphasizes universal values which allow parents/kids of any religion to play it and discover more about themselves and each other as they play.

There are videos, blogs and even music to make sure a parent has every resource for both themselves and their child to become more enlightened, wiser, more compassionate and caring for each other, their environment and humankind as a whole. Is it a bit like Zen? Yes, a bit, except that this game seems to be more exciting than Ommmming… plus you and your child get excited figuring out the nitty-gritties in the “Game of Life”.

This is ‘good’ technology –when heart and computer work in harmony to inspire us to be better as we go through our journey and lead our children to theirs.

Levo league, a new wave of women, takes on on the challenge of equal pay.

On April 17th, President Obama proclaimed — National Equal Pay Day, calling Americans to recognize the full value of women’s skills, their contribution to the work force, acknowledge the injustice of wage discrimination, and join efforts to achieve equal pay.

Make some noise generation Y ladies! National Equal Pay Day has defiantly broken the glass ceiling, right? Well, not exactly.

Sad to say, not all companies have taken recognition to the ‘end of inequality.’ Levo League aims to change that.

Led by “Chief Inpir/Instig-ation Officer,” Amanda Pouchot, Levo League offers a unique support system for women of all stages in their career. Composed as a social network, the league helps format and lead women into their careers, allowing them to break through the glass ceiling via personal and professional support.

Women power the economy and sustain our middle class. According to a White House Press Release “For millions of families across our country, women’s wages mean food on the table, decent medical care, and timely mortgage payments. Yet, in 2010 — 47 years after President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 — women who worked full-time earned only 77 percent of what their male counterparts did … National Equal Pay Day represents the date in the current year through which women must work to match what men earned in the previous year, reminding us that we must keep striving for an America where everyone gets an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work.”

Just recently the Levo Leauge has initiated the hashtags #ASK4MORE, and #EQUALPAY. The goal is for women to earn more in salary within the next 20 years. For example, in order to earn $150K* in the next 20 years you’ll need to ask for a raise of 8.38% each year, which is a raise of only $1.26 more an hour. (*Based on a 40-hour work week and 50 weeks worked a year.)

Levo League has lots of support and it’s not just from the White House. Other supporters who are backing up this startup include Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.

The Levo Leauge is more than empowering –it’s a home base for progressive women. LOVE IT!

What do you get when you mix a Barbie doll and a 5MPX camera? A new Barbie from Mattel: the Barbie Photo Fashion Doll!

Even toy dolls can’t escape the rapid expansion of technology. This week at the Toy Fair in New York, Mattel unveiled its latest Barbie doll that comes with a screen in its stomach and a 5 megapixel camera. It can store about 100 images and has a USB port for connecting to your computer. It costs $50 and will be in retail stores by August 2012. But that’s not all.

In addition, this new Barbie is tied to a new ad campaign which introduced its new website called BarbieWow.com. The site allows people to go through Barbie’s closet, try on clothes through an augmented reality display which requires a webcam, and take part in styling competitions.

Taking pictures require you to click on Barbie’s belt buckle and everything else seems to be as humanly possible.

Will Mattel’s competitors follow suit and have their own photo doll? Maybe, but you’ve got to give Mattel credit for the way they entered Barbie into the gadget world.

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington (@Arrington) is under fire for comments he made about women and minorities in the technology industry. According to Arrington, there aren’t many minority or female entrepreneurs in tech. SheBytes founder Renee Schmidt says Arrington’s opinions weren’t very PC, but he’s right (read more here).

I’d like to draw attention to a couple of things we need to keep in mind, when addressing this issue.

There is and always has been a significant and undeniable disparity in the tech industry between the amount of men and women. In fact, only a tiny sliver; 3% of ALL tech firms are started by women. (Source: Vivek Wadhwa (@wadhwa), visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, tech researcher & entrepreneur). This being the case, I’m not sure that industry roadblocks are necessarily to blame. In fact, a recent study by the University of Iowa suggests that there’s a disparity amongst men and women in tech because of a general lack of interest amongst women.

I personally think that this discrepancy is likely related to upbringing, societal factors or family values, but is most likely the combined effect of all three factors.

In my own case, I started a technology blog for women, but I’ve observed that the majority of my readers are men – so I’ve shifted the focus of SheBytes.com to be more inclusive of both male and female readers.

This has been a clear example to me, that in general, there is just more interest in learning about technology and its developments among men.

Because of this, I agree with Mr. Arrington in that there is certainly an absence of minorities and women from the tech world, but I feel that this current situation is definitely not set in stone.

As women just don’t gravitate towards careers in technology with the same aptitude as men, perhaps as of now this question is not answerable.

But, I think that the next 10 years can see exciting changes in this imbalance. As the next generation of kids is growing up in a world even further surrounded with technology, young girls will experience tech early on in life. Due to the pervasiveness of personal technologies like smartphones, apps, social networks, online gaming, etc. children will grow up submerged in technology.

Also very important, is that the costs of these technologies are rapidly falling. Companies like Raspberry Pi and their incredible USB sized computer, (which will soon be available for around $25) are revolutionizing the way we think about tech. This means that more people around the world will be exposed to all of these cutting-edge developments and innovations.

Additionally, I think, in the case of women, we approach technology much differently than men.

I’ve observed that tech is interpreted differently by the sexes: — Men are generally interested in features and want to know: “what?” (ex: “what does it do?” and of course, “what date will it be released?”) — Women are generally interested in practicality and want to know: “why?” and “how?” (ex: “why do I need this?” and “how can I use it?”).

“Venture-backed companies run by a woman have 12% higher revenues” – Vivek Wadhwa

Because of this, statistics like the one above by Wadhwa are INCREDIBLE but not shocking.

As women make up such a small fraction of the entrepreneurial arena, they are valuable assets to companies and investors. Women at the helm see things differently than men, and have proven by reaching the distant point of heading a tech company that they bring something unique. They carry an element to the table worth investing in.

I share Arrington’s sentiment: “female and minority entrepreneurs now get an extra boost from investors “dying” to diversify their portfolios” but that doesn’t mean they’re any less worthy than their white male counterparts.

In fact, I think that the women and minorities who do ‘make it’ to a place where they are eligible candidates for funding in the first place, are stellar business people. It’s atypical, and the ones that climbed to the top are, in my opinion, individuals that are really willing to go against the grain, against societal norms, and they are people willing to take risks –the qualities one needs to possess to be a successful entrepreneur!

And this risk taking and perspective is something invaluable in entrepreneurship…

Bryce Gruber takes it to the streets of the Occupy Wall Street movement with tampons and a glittery picket sign: “free tampons to stop economic bleeding.”

For the last month or so, there’s been a leaderless resistance movement taking place in downtown Manhattan; it’s called Occupy Wall Street. The movement includes people of all colors, genders and political persuasions taking a stand against greed and corruption. They are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the 1%!

Wearing sky-high gold stilettos, a sequined cocktail dress, carrying a multipack of tampons, and a glittery picket sign stating “free tampons to stop the economic bleeding,” my girlfriend Bryce, Editor of the LuxurySpot, traveled to the heart of the movement yesterday morning. At Zuccotti Park, Bryce collected the accounts of the WOMEN protesters. SheBytes is all about thought-leadership in women; Because, I was so moved by Bryce’s bold actions and her account of the protest, I had to share it with the SheBytes readers!

As Bryce put it, “Everyone is covering the political side. The economic side. The fiscal policy side. The legal side… but no one has stopped to talk to the women.”

So who are the women who have braved the elements in the name of societal “injustice”? They are an incredible bunch! Read Bryce’s account and check out more images here: We Occupied Wall Street with the Women

It seems that despite the clear inequality that still exists between males and females in the workplace, very little has been done by companies which has been effective in remedying this issue.

According to Dr. Ronald Burke, (a professor of organizational behaviors); “Gender stereotypes and a lack of mentors contribute to…an environment where employees, when they think of a manager, picture a man.” Because gender differences are so deeply rooted, this statement holds true for women asked to picture a manager as well. These perceived notions have fostered a work environment with a shocking dearth of women in CEO positions.

Even worse than the lack of female CEO’s, is the gender gap between men and women present in the tech sector in particular. Because technology is seen as a male-bent field, women are discouraged and self-discouraged early on from pursuing mathematics and the sciences in school.

I’m going to stress a few quotes in the Bloomberg post which were really eye opening for me personally:

Cisco Systems (@CiscoSystems) executive Kathy Hill says that “The lack of women in technology will hinder U.S. companies’ global competitiveness, leaving a valuable source of female workers untapped.” In these more difficult economic times, it is vital that we turn to utilizing the resources we have and striving for efficiency.

If we neglect the greatness female workers have to offer; the US will sacrifice productivity and maximization. “A homogeneous team is not going to be as innovative and is not going to produce the same level of well-thought-out results as a diverse team,” says Marilyn Nagel, chief executive officer of Watermark (@wtrmrk).

Marilyn is making the case for equality in the workplace from an economic perspective which is too often ignored. By keeping CEO a male dominated position, we will suffer from a lack of diversity which is the key to being able to gain from alternate and varied perspectives.

Leah Eichler (@MommyEconomics), not only has the hippest Twitter handle I’ve seen in a while (I LOVE MommyEconomics), but also writes for the Canadian; The Globe and Mail. In her recent post “Breaking Your Own Glass Ceiling”, Eichler makes it effulgent through the title alone, that it is in our hands (in the hands of female executives), to push forward. Only when we recognize the ability we have to promote change and believe in the ways to get to an equal future, will we realize this potential.

“We need to unlock a vital source of growth that can power our economy in the decades to come, and that vital source of growth is women.” -Hillary Clinton (@HillaryNews)